Every Day (Brush of Love 2)

“Anyway, you don’t have to find a place too soon. Having you here is helping me out. Plus, you’ll need the support as the Mom and Dad saga unfolds. And, I’ve been having these awful stress headaches.”

“You gotten them checked out by a doctor?” she asked.

“Nah. It’s not that bad. They’re just migraines. I think I’m pulling too many hours at the gallery, which was why I actually chose to shut down today instead of leaving it open just in case.”

“Do they make you nauseous?”

“Oh, yeah. And my vision shakes, and I have to turn off all the lights,” I said.

“Yep. Migraines. We’ll get you to a drug store and get you some migraine medication. See if that helps next time.”

“Thanks, Anna.”

“

It’s really nothing, Hailey. I promise you, this’ll all get better. Bryan will slowly fade into the background and these headaches will go away and your gallery will skyrocket like it has been. And I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Just that I’ll do what I can to help,” she said.

“Anna, I’m not one of your projects. Don’t sink yourself into something intentionally that derails you from your own dreams. You do that a lot.”

“You mean don’t make you a community outreach project?” she said, grinning.

“Exactly. Don’t root yourself here. Your destiny’s in London, remember?”

“Well, while I’m here, I’ll help in any way I can,” she said.

“You two ready to order?” the waitress asked.

“Ah, yes. Could I get a double cheeseburger with bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles? No sauces on it, please. And an order of your cheese curds. No idea what those are, so I’m going to try them,” she said.

“And for you?” the waitress asked.

“I’ll have your California burger with everything that comes on it with another order of fries,” I said.

Anna was smiling at me, but I could see something behind her eyes, something that was a bit unsettling. I knew she wanted to help, and I knew she wanted to see me succeed, but she had always been one to sacrifice for others. She’d sacrificed for Mom and Dad to make them happy, and the last thing I wanted her to do was sacrifice for me because she felt that would make me happy. I could already tell she was becoming emotionally invested in my headaches, trying to find a way to displace all the emotion she had welling up within her.

I’d have to help her displace it onto something that would further the life I knew she wanted to lead, even if it did take her away from the only piece of family she now had.

I had to make sure she flew the coop and ended up happy.

Chapter 11

Bryan

I dragged myself up the stairs to my office with my head pounding. I was drinking too much, way too much, and I knew it. I could still taste the stale beer at the back of my throat even though I’d brushed my teeth, showered, and gargled. I was falling into the same trap my brother had fallen into, and suddenly, I had a newfound respect for why he fell the way he did. Mom and Dad had ripped out his heart and stomped on it. They had single-handedly changed the way he viewed this manipulative world. Just like Hailey had lied her way into my heart, Mom and Dad had done something similar to him, so he’d turned to something that wouldn’t hurt him emotionally, something that wouldn’t judge him for the decisions he made in life.

I unlocked my office and sighed heavily. I used to hate being up here. I used to hate being cooped up in this space, but now I found it a relief. It covered me from the world just like my home did. It shrouded me from everyone’s prying eyes who felt the need to comment on my life. It hid me from all the bullshit I didn’t want to deal with. It cast out all the things that still reminded me of Hailey.

I could still smell her scent on my skin after that encounter a week ago.

I tossed my bag into my chair and slowly dragged myself to the window. The scruff on my face had grown up a bit longer than I was used to wearing it, and it was beginning to look ragged. I scratched at my face, noting the bags underneath my eyes that were growing more and more prominent. My hair was disheveled, and my eyes were dull. Even with their dark brown color, they seemed less full of ... something.

I didn’t even fucking know anymore.

A for sale sign across the street caught my eye. A row of empty shops was up for the taking. In any other scenario, I’d be interested in it. It was commercial property, and I was still under the impression we were trying to get that division of the company up and running. But I hadn’t talked to Drew since he told me he was considering opening his tattoo shop, and I didn’t have the stomach or the passion for commercial real estate.